The House of Representatives, on Thursday, quizzed officials of the Nigerian Navy on the comprehensive details of vessels for the exportation of crude oil as well as the importation of premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from 2017 to date.
Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee investigating petroleum products subsidy regime from 2017 to 2022, Hon Ibrahim Aliyu, underscored the need for the authorities of the Nigerian Navy to provide details on owner of the vessels, the importers, exporters, and delivery ports as well as the quantity of products involved in all the transactions.
In the same vein, the lawmakers requested full details of vessels arrested, details of the ownership of such vessels, the agencies the vessels were handed over to, the content of the vessels, their current location, as well as the status of the contents of the vessels.
In his remarks, Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo explained all the information documented with the Nigerian Navy was provided by Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The Chief of Naval Staff who was represented by the Director of Lesson Learnt of the Nigerian Navy, Rear Admiral E. Ogaula, said: “The Navy only assists the NNPC in ensuring that things work the way it is supposed to.
“It is not the lead in terms of tanker nominations and all these issues of oil lifting and so. It is the information passed to the Nigerian Navy by the NNPC that we record in our file.
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“Sometime, NNPC might pass information and we record it and at the end of the day some of them are cancelled, some are not.
“The information we have which we have passed to you is the information sent by NNPC,” he noted.
Piqued by his submission, some of the lawmakers who frowned at the development, expressed displeasure over the Naval officers’ undue reliance on NNPC.
In his intervention, Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Benjamin Kalu said: “We leave waterways under your care, therefore independent of what NNPC does, it is your mandate.
“To say you only rely on what is coming from NNPC does not inspire confidence in Nigerians who allow you to monitor what comes into the country. I know the Navy has a record of every tanker coming or going out that has products that have to do with oil and gas.”
On his part, Hon Mark Gbillah, said: “On behalf of Nigerians, we are taken aback by your response on such a monumental issue.
“Is the Navy telling us today with regards to the inflow of vessels and vessels leaving this country, with regards to specific issues that pertain to the NNPC, you rely only on NNPC’s information? So where then is the role of the Navy?”
Worried by the development, the Committee issued a one-week ultimatum to the Nigerian Navy to provide relevant information that would assist the House during the ongoing investigative hearing.
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Subsidy scam: Reps quiz Navy over details of vessels lifting crude oil, PMS since 2017
